Finally finished Glasslands! Wow, that was a long book. And I'm not a fast reader. I greatly enjoyed the entire thing, but it definitely felt like it was never going to end.

I've heard some negative reviews on the books, and I can see why people may be disappointed in the amount of story squashed into these pages. Traviss seeks to cram every plotline every introduced in the Halo books and games into Glasslands alone, failing to tie up any loose ends at all. This didn't bother me in the least, but I can see where it would bother others.

Glasslands is absolutely overflowing with information. It was hard at first to remember what was going on with all of the characters, where they'd been, whose side they were on, etc. Because Traviss jumps in as if I finished Halo 3 and the Cole Protocol yesterday. Which I didn't.

There were a handful of places where her writing was very choppy, as in I couldn't figure out how the characters got from Point A to Point B, because one minute they were here, and now they're there, with no transition. The Republic Commando books never suffered from this, to my knowledge, so I'm not sure what happened.

I'll have to go into actual detail later, but overall I thought it was great. I wouldn't say her story was as captivating as those of Eric Nylund (The Fall of Reach, First Strike, and The Ghosts of Onyx), not yet. But she's definitely on the right track. Great book. _________________"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Also, Microsoft are doing a live action online series - of five 15-minute episodes - called Forward Unto Dawn.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118053273_________________I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it (or even read all of it). These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 3:45 pm

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VileZeroMaster

Joined: 21 Mar 2010Posts: 818Location: Washington DC

Karen Traviss's sequel to "Glasslands" is "The Thursday War" and it comes out on Oct. 2 of this year.

Posted: Tue May 01, 2012 4:04 pm

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Caedus_16Master

Joined: 15 Apr 2008Posts: 5339Location: Korriban

VileZero wrote:

Karen Traviss's sequel to "Glasslands" is "The Thursday War" and it comes out on Oct. 2 of this year.

_________________Perfection is a lifelong pursuit requiring sacrifice. The only way to get it quicker is to sacrifice the most.

Finished Glasslands, and it had me quite excited for the next book! I loved seeing what happened after the war, all the ONI workings, and I think it was a great book to start a trilogy on. That said, while I do think Traviss learned from the RC series, she did go a little overboard on the 'Spartans were kidnapped? This is a travissty!' at the end. The first three quarters were great on that end, acknowledging - rightly - that it was bad, but did so in an underplayed way, but that last bit seemed overshadowed by that one plotline._________________I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it (or even read all of it). These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 1:02 am

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Caedus_16Master

Joined: 15 Apr 2008Posts: 5339Location: Korriban

Finished Halo 4 Tuesday, been working on re-playing it on Legendary. Will post more thoughts later but all I have to say thus far is holy crap, this is great._________________Perfection is a lifelong pursuit requiring sacrifice. The only way to get it quicker is to sacrifice the most.

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 1:09 am

Message

Mara Jade SkywalkerAdministrator

Joined: 15 Feb 2008Posts: 6257Location: Beyond Shadows

Waaaahhhh! *whines, think any male Skywalker* Mine is at the local post office, but claims it won't be here until Tuesday! Waaaaaahhhhhh!

I'm thinking of organizing a rescue mission..._________________"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

I may not be able to afford this game at all, so count yourself lucky, Mara _________________I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it (or even read all of it). These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 11:35 am

Message

Caedus_16Master

Joined: 15 Apr 2008Posts: 5339Location: Korriban

Ok now for thoughts.

1. For those who read Halo: Cryptum and the sequel Halo: Primordium you will not be disappointed.

2. The new weapons and HUD system are great improvements.

3. Storyline is incredible. I can easily see how this could be the start of a new trilogy despite the fact that it is also sort of a standalone story.

Click here to see the hidden message (It might contain spoilers)

The appearance of The Didact and then later his wife The Librarian was great for me, I was afraid they'd opt out of that and go with some sort of proxy. Nope. Instead they went right for it and I was very impressed. Cortana's rampancy could have been too much, but it wound up being a Master Chief story about Cortana rather than just another military game. Unlike Halo 3 it handled it very well.

A note on the game functions...

1. The multiplayer is still very good, but its basically CoD now. I knew this would happen, but I always hoped it wouldn't.

2. The menu layout is ok. I get it, they wanted to go for a futuristic computer style instead of the portraiture and listing that the last game (Halo: Reach) employed, but now that I've used both I think Reach wins. Its more efficient and more user-friendly, the new one is frustrating and pointlessly convoluted. The ranking system is back to the numbers,which I don't mind but the actual military ranking worked better for me. You'll get used to it all, but the old system made way more sense.

Overall a great game though. I loved it and I'm working back through it on Legendary right now. Its hard as hell. I'm thoroughly enjoying it and I've only had it a week, but I think this will be enough to satisfy me till either Halo 5 or another spinoff. Halo Reach will go down as my favorite thus far, but this is a close second._________________Perfection is a lifelong pursuit requiring sacrifice. The only way to get it quicker is to sacrifice the most.

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 1:42 pm

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Mara Jade SkywalkerAdministrator

Joined: 15 Feb 2008Posts: 6257Location: Beyond Shadows

Life Is The Path wrote:

I may not be able to afford this game at all, so count yourself lucky, Mara

You sure know how to make a person feel sheepish.

On that note, though...it's out for delivery! _________________"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Sorry about that. I was aiming for perspective to make you feel better about it ._________________I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it (or even read all of it). These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 4:31 am

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Dog-Poop_WalkerMaster

Joined: 28 Jan 2012Posts: 1603Location: Simulation and Simulacra

I don't understand Halo. Isn't it just call of duty in space? I say that because everyone I've ever met that plays it, and every time I've played it, they say that it's just about playing mutliplayer and that the story mode sucks. Granted those people might just be morons, but that is the experience I've had with it._________________Spread out all around us is a petrified world, a world of Things, where we ourselves, our gestures, and even our feelings figure in as Things. Nothing can belong to us as truly our own in such a landscape of death. Under commodity occupation the most concrete truth about everything is the truth of it's infinite replaceablity.

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:50 am

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Mara Jade SkywalkerAdministrator

Joined: 15 Feb 2008Posts: 6257Location: Beyond Shadows

I say this with all due respect: They're morons. The story mode for Halo is why I play! I love, love, love it. And Halo came out back in 2001. It's not like it's copying everything else. Almost the other way around. _________________"It's not about the legacy you leave, it's about the life you live." ~Mara Jade Skywalker

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 10:22 am

Message

Caedus_16Master

Joined: 15 Apr 2008Posts: 5339Location: Korriban

Dog-Poop_Walker wrote:

I don't understand Halo. Isn't it just call of duty in space? I say that because everyone I've ever met that plays it, and every time I've played it, they say that it's just about playing mutliplayer and that the story mode sucks. Granted those people might just be morons, but that is the experience I've had with it.

I'll toss in with Mara about them being morons. The multiplayer is very different from CoD (well not now that 4 is out, but it was pretty unique up until then).

The story is actually really deeply embedded in not only militaristic sci-fi but also hard sci-fi involving genetic manipulation, creation mythos, and religious imagery that is layered on like a wedding cake. I'd say if you come to any interest at all research the story and see what you think, if you're a gamer they re-released the first game with updated graphics last year and its only like $35 bucks brand new so that would be a decent place to start (though I'll admit that the first one has the weakest campaign in terms of gameplay the story is still great). There are also 2 of 3 novels out about the creation of modern humanity and the civilization that came before called the Forerunners and the first one of those is gold (the second is only good if you loved the first one enough to want to continue)._________________Perfection is a lifelong pursuit requiring sacrifice. The only way to get it quicker is to sacrifice the most.

On top of that, the enemy AI is some of the best I've ever come across. Though I've often said that Halo: Combat Evolved has the best enemy ever invented in a game (Covenant), and the worst enemy ever invented in a game (Flood)._________________I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it (or even read all of it). These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.